North Korea has criticized South Korea’s presidential office for claiming that cultural assets the U.S. recently returned to Seoul had been taken by North Korean troops during the Korean War.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said on Thursday that the Cheong Wa Dae is making a ludicrous claim and that the nine state and royal seals were actually taken by an American officer during the war.

The North called the presidential office's explanation a "wicked act of provocation."

The committee said that U.S. President Barack Obama himself acknowledged the seals were illegally taken out of Korea, and they said the presidential office’s claims reveal the Park government’s despicable sycophancy.